soil-conservation-people-religion-and-land.pdf - South West NRM

the earth's resources. However, it is difficult to gainsay
the conclusion that there is a strong correlation between the
countries where Christianity is the "state religion" and the
destructive use of technology which has led to extensive
collapse of ecosystems. Of course similar outcomes have
resulted from sheer population pressure in many non-Christian
countries. White's statement on utility of earth resources
to man, is important if not simplistic: "God planned all
this explicitly for man's benefit and rule: no item in the
physical creation had any purpose save to serve man's
purposes. " This is a central concept for Christianity today.
If natural resources, notably living resources, are not
solely for man's use, what other inherent values do they
possess?
White's reference to the ,ancient ?beliefs which accepted
guardian spirits, is contrasted with Christianity, which he
suggests, allowed exploitation of nature without
consideration of the "feelings" of non-human creation. If
the present-day Church is concerned with alleviating land
degradation problems, and it may not be, then serious
consideration of White's central challenge is called for:
"What we do about ecology depends on our ideas of
man-nature relations. More science and more
technology are not going to get us out of the
present ecologic crisis until we find a new
religion, or rethink our old one."
White goes on to cite St. Francis as a leader in a new wave
of thinking which emphasized humility in man relative to
other species. There is no doubt a multitude of
interpretations of hclw St. Francis' creed corrupted or
complimented the Church's doctrines of his time. Important
for us today in Australia is the acceptance of how he "tried
to depose man from his monarchy over creation and set up a
democracy of all God's creation."
If our modern Church believes that the worsening degradation
of our land is not its concern, the writer believes it should
say so. If hmever the Church accepts that it has a role,
nay an abiding responsibility, in preserving the creation on
which man depends, it should vigorously pursue both the
doctrinal basis for such a stance and propose clear action
statements to this effect. It is the writer's sincere hope
that all our Churches will recognize the scale of the
physical crisis affecting our land, seek the relevant
scriptural injunctions and make appropriate calls to action
from their members. It is the writer's view, as inaugural
president of the Soil Conservation Association of Australia,
that our Churches have a vital role to play in developing a
landcare ethic within our entire community.
The scope of this paper should perhaps be widened beyond the
bounds of Christian Land Stewardship, to include the more
general concept of Christian responses to "Issues Facing
Christians Today" as overviewed by John Stott ( 1984) .